The Eurogroup is to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss Greece and Spain on September 3rd, 2012, Italian news agency ANSA reported citing EU officials who spoke on conditions of anonymity.

This is a new meeting announcement but the topics of Spain and Greece are unsurprising as these are the two in focus European countries as Spanish yields are still relatively high and there is an ongoing Troika review of Greece. This meeting will gain additional focus as September 3rd approaches with likely additions to the agenda.

Head of Eurogroup, Luxembourg’s prime minister Jean Claude Juncker will visit Athens on August 22, the office of Greek PM Antonis Samaras announced on Friday. Juncker will hold talks with Samaras two days before the latter will leave Athens and travel to European capitals in an effort to persuade Greece’s political lenders to grant the debt-ridden country an extension in order to meet fiscal targets.

Samaras will meet with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on August 24th and French President Francois Hollande in Paris on August 25th, 2012.

Parallel to Olympic Games, Samaras’ government is running the most difficult race of its short life, to persuade the Troika that Greece’s coalition government is devoted to meet is obligations and apply by the book the terms and conditions of the second bailout.

“By the book?” Oh, well… Greek government tries to table so-called “equivalent measures” to avoid strictest austerity that would eventually trigger social unrest, but the Troika apparently rejects them, Greek media report on Saturday morning.

Our Spanish friends are not in much better position, PM Rajoy plans austerity measures worth 103 billion euro for the next three years, and the country is not even in the known EU/IMF bailout mechanism…